Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

When Jacob’s grandfather dies in a horrible accident, Jacob thinks he sees a creature responsible for his death exit the woods. Rather than chase it, he goes to try to help his grandfather who says to him:

Find the bird. In the loop. On the other side of the old man’s grave. September third, 1940.

Haunted and confused by his grandfather’s directive, Jacob is determined to seek out its meaning. He travels to Wales to see the home his grandfather grew up in and discovers it in ruins. Still, there’s something there and Jacob is determined to find out what it is. He finds a whole other world that explains so much about his grandfather’s life and death.

Jacob is confused by the death of his grandfather and what he’s sure he saw that day and can’t understand why no one believes him. His parents have put him in therapy but he doesn’t really think it helps until he gets his therapist to convince his parents to allow him to travel to Wales to see where his grandfather grew up. Surely seeing Miss Peregrine’s Home will help him figure out what his grandfather meant in his cryptic message.

Jacob does find the answers he was looking for and they are beyond his wildest dreams. They help him put the pieces together but they also put him in danger. This book is full of supernatural elements and spine tingling moments and I liked it but didn’t love it. I don’t read much fantasy, though, so I’m not the target audience. Those who enjoy fantasy and the supernatural should pick up a copy of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children!

I will link this up to Booking Mama’s Saturday feature, Kid Konnection. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, leave a comment as well as a link on her site tomorrow.

I would like to read this book, since so many of my students have enjoyed it. Even though it’s been popular with my students, I didn’t know anything about this book, so thanks for an informative review.

What’s up with all the supernatural haters?!? 😉 I enjoyed this one, but also found it more hard to believe instead of creepy. Not that I need to believe in everything I read, but I think thenovellife has the right word…contrived. I’ve seen the second one in the store, but one book was enough for me.